It has been roughly three weeks since Chaos theory took humanity hostage. Most people haven’t adjusted and there is a deep feeling of helplessness.

“I have fifteen minutes. Before I do anything let’s get rid of that useless assistant.”

It has been exactly fourteen hours and forty five minutes since Rak last logged into Chaos theory, which has replaced sleeping. While he understood that he would be safe anywhere in the world, even in the scorching heat or oxygen deprived mountain tops, but it was still going to be undignified.

Rak has the Devion name to think of. He also didn’t want to experience the humiliation either. Fortunately, ‘hotel booths’ have become popular in the past week.

Before doing anything else Rak slightly fixed the sleeve on his expensive suite. Letting out a breath of air Rak opened up his personal computer device, a holographic screen popped up in front of him like a computer screen.

“Olei, fire Jandi and hire me a new personal assistant.”

“Any preferences?”

“I’m thinking a brunette this time.”

“Consider it done.”

With a thought the video application vanished and a moment later a map of the city appeared with Rak’s location as the center.

“These booth’s might be worth investing in.”

Rak’s thoughts began navigating through the map, he had already brought up all hotel’s nearby and only these hotel booths were close enough.

“God dammit. This is all that Jandi’s fault.”

It can be considered shameful within Rak’s circles to fall asleep out and about, but even just having to sleep in these booths was bad enough. And he blamed all on his assistant, Jandi, who hadn’t dragged him away from his ‘leisure’ activities quick enough.

“This one will do.”

Not only were these booths ‘popular’ they were expensive as well, they exploited people in a rush. Upon arriving, Rak already had a frown.

“Look at this shifty rat. Damnit.”

“I need a booth, the best you have.”

“Forty credits.”

Rak saw the holographic screen push out from the manager, after seeing the price, Rak wasn’t shocked, he just waved his hands paying for the booth.

“You’re number sixty eight, down at the end.”

Rak was even more indignant now that he saw that there was no ‘best booth’ but after glancing at how much time he had left he suppressed his anger.

“Damnit. Maybe I need to do more than just fire that bitch.”

The suppressed anger was quickly directed at his rather beautiful soon to be former assistant. Rak opened the booth and stepped inside. The booth closed shortly after he got into position and tilted slightly.

“Two minutes. That was too close.”

After locking the booth from the inside, Rak instantly went to ‘sleep’. Of course what he did was what everyone does, enter Chaos theory. Usually he would go into his very well outfitted incubator at home, with all the benefits that go with it.

While everyone can enter Chaos theory wherever they want, having a custom made incubator chamber made by the General Artificial Intelligence Agency, gives far too many benefits. Only, this chamber not only costs a fortune, its upkeep is frightening. Frightening for normal people.

In a beautiful mansion a woman paced back and forth tapping her fingers on her thigh. When an alert from her personal device popped up her heart stopped for a brief moment and moments after her face paled. Jandi has been relieved of her duties. Whatever she wanted the Devion’s family resources to help her with will never be fulfilled.

Opening his eyes inside Chaos theory, Rak saw a familiar scene, he was lying in a bed. A quick look around would have a person think this was a commoners house. Everything from the bed to the walls and ceiling is made of wood.

“I’m back.”

The first thing Rak does, as do most people when they wake up in Chaos theory, is look at their status.

“At least I’m rested.”

Rak couldn’t help but frown, it cost him a ‘fortune’ to buy this house.

Character

Status

Constitution: 86/100%

Fatigue: 75/100%

Hunger: 20/100%

Clarity: 57/100%

Stamina: 99/100%

Abilities

Inventory

“Even just getting to seventy five percent is hard enough.”

Being rested means a player has to reach at least half their fatigue value. Rak has four hundred and eighty seven fatigue points, at seventy five percent that means he has about three hundred and sixty five points before he needs to go back to sleep.

If it wasn’t for this value, people could spend their entire lives in Chaos theory, it is also because of the value of this fatigue system that Rak spent so much time and money to buy this commoners house. Every time people sleep in Chaos theory they replenish some fatigue points. Beds amongst other things can increase how high it can go or how much is gathered over time.

“With this I should be able to stay for about a week at a time. That reminds me, I got to set an alert, I can’t forget my real body is in some dirty booth right now.”

After fiddling about for a few moments, Rak put on his gear. The action took about a half a second, suddenly his white underwear turned into slick black pants and his naked torso was adorned with a white shirt and a loose slightly faded black jacket.

All in all, Rak isn’t a fighter or any sort of adventurer so his items weren’t suited for combat. Instead what Rak was dressed for is business.

“If all things go well, my first startup should take off today. While a single brewery isn’t much, I’m sure once enough capital returns I can expand.”

Majority of Rak’s wealth went into two things. One, the commoners house and second, his brewery. It had been less than easy to get the town’s management to allow him to buy a house in the town, and even harder to get the brewery finalized.

“I should go check on everything.”

On the way to the brewery, Rak met many people making their way around on the course gravel road. The roads were dry so on occasion some dust would get kicked into the air.

“Morning mister Abstinence.”

“Morning miss Helena.”

“Morn’ Abstinence.”

“Morning mister Karl.”

Everywhere he went, Rak was greeted by the town’s folk, this all because of his hard work. In the past two weeks, Rak had spent every waking moment increasing his reputation in the small town of Alp.

It has already been three weeks since Chaos theory launched, yet a single map of the world was yet to be found. The best people could find was the villages and nearby towns they spawned near.

Originally Rak spawned in a village a bit away from Alp, but in that village he had to do all sorts of miscellaneous tasks just to get a ride on a worn down wooden carriage.

“Oh! If isn’t the big businessman, mister Abstinence.”

“You flatter me, mister town planner. If it wasn’t for you, where would I be? Still running around town helping people look for lost pets, I bet.”

Town planner Ung’s eyes lit up and he laughed, looking on Rak with a friendly smile.

“Nonsense, even if these old bones weren't around, I’m sure a hardworking man like you would have no issues.”

After a few pleasantries, Rak, also known as Abstinence, glanced at the nearly finished brewery. Its outwards appearance was little more than a glorified warehouse. Inside there were barrels and some specialized tools meant for brewing.

Fortunately for Rak, he didn't need to actually brew his own beer, he could leave that to someone who actually knows how to. Namely, a middle aged man called Orlic, a trained brewer.

Although Orlic isn’t very talented, his proficiency far exceeds Rak’s. In either case, Rak never intended to actually do any manual labour in the first place, he was just creating a business, as that was what he was good at.

In Chaos theory, even an entrepreneur could be a job. Rak stood there beside the town planner and watched as the sizeable loading bar above the brewery turned from ninety nine percent to a hundred. It is also possible to speed up this process by hiring carpenters and architects, but that can multiply the cost. Not to mention that the town would have to have people trained in such jobs.

“Let me be the first to congratulate you on your first business, mister Abstinence.”

“Thank you, mister Ung.“

You have completed a basic brewery.

Experience: 1200

Coin: 35 copper

Title: Brewer

Brewer: Increases alcohol effects on you by 10%

“Sure enough, the rewards are poor. At least the experience is not bad.”

Unlike fighting beasts, becoming a businessman isn’t rewarding in the experience department, in fact Rak only recently leveled to level ten. And he only did that to be applicable to actually buy property.

Reaching level ten can be done in a week if a person focuses on doing activities that properly reward it or even just the ones that are considered challenging. Instead, Rak has been doing trivial tasks around town to gain reputation. Trivial means lacking in experience returns.

“Orlic!”

“Oh, mister Abstinence. So the brewery is finally up and running?”

“That’s right. Now we just need you and a few helping hands to get started and then it's all in your hands.”

“All we need to do is get the first batch going, after that I can slowly prepare everything for the next ones.”

“Good, our helpers should arrive in an hour or less, the construction completed a bit earlier than expected.”

“That’s how these things go.”

Like Rak, Orlic was excited about the brewery. Previously Orlic was casually working as a sustinences farmer and only brewing beer as a hobby. Having been hired by Rak he could now simply buy food and brew beer for his living.

Every person in Chaos theory can be said to be their own person, but that doesn’t mean they’ll put themselves in harms way to gain glory or even put in effort to change their situation. Pain is very real in Chaos theory, and while death isn’t permanent, it is no laughing matter either.

“That should be them.”

Walking in a group of three were two young men wearing cheap hemp-esque clothing and a tad better dressed older woman with cloth wrapped around her hair.

“Good, they sent Hilde, with her this will go smoother”

“Oh?”

“You don’t know Hilde? She’s the baker’s mother.”

“Right! Young baker Temp’s mother.”

“That’s right. With her experience we might finish the first batch before noon. Actually, you should ask her about her daughter, I know you just bought that nice little place down in Koroners street.”

Ever since joining Chaos theory, Rak took on a second personalities, one in the real world where he had wealth and power. And one inside Chaos theory were he had to literally scrape his hands and knees for a few copper coins.

“I didn’t know being a matchmaker was one of your talents, Orlic.”

Breathing sharply through his nose, Orlic smiled and shook his head. He understood he shouldn’t force things, youngster will do what youngsters will do.

“Mister Abstinence, Mister Orlic, Mister Ung.”

“Nice to see you today, Missus Baker.”

The town Alp has only one bakery, and like other establishments where only one was within the town borders, people would be called by their occupation or even spouse's occupation. Even their children could be called ‘little baker’ and so on.

“Since you are all here, I’m sure Mister Abstinence is itching for us to get started. I’m sure you want to join in, mister Abstinence.”

Rak has long since stopped trying to get people to call him Rak, but he has managed to be called everything from ‘the leaf raker’ to ‘that guy with the chairs’. It has been a humbling experience for Rak, yet it does not carry into the real world. Or it should be said his real world personality has yet to take hold within Chaos theory.

Outside the brewery is a small wagon meant for people to drag around, on it are large bags filled with grain. The two younger boys are here to move these around as there is a considerable number of them.

After moving in a few bags, Rak watches Hilde go about preparing the grain. This grain will be fermented in the large containers, these look like massive barrels that have been toppled over.

“I doubt we’ll be done by noon, look how big these are.”

“We won’t be filling them to the brim, just up to here. Most of the work will be to prepare the grain and get them inside, the water pump should do the rest.”

Two rivers flow through Alp town, one into a large lake, the source of water for the town, this lake’s water is connected to an underground river, but none of the town’s folk know that. The other flows all the way down south, where it meets up with another river.

After all the grain was moved inside the brewery, the two young boys grabbed a bucket of water from the water pump and sat down outside in the sun. Hilde and Orlic continue preparing the grain, cleaning and removing unwanted extra material.

“I still don’t believe this is all that goes into making beer.”

Rak’s thoughts are understandable, though he did not know that usually beers need at least yeast to convert the extract sugar from the grain into alcohol, but Chaos theory does not need to abide by common sense, only enough to not cause people to feel it to be alien.

“This is all you need. Later on you can flavour it, but those are recipes I don't know. You know what kind of failure rate experimentation is.”

“Right, I can’t afford to let you experiment right now. If the first few batches sell alright, we can try experimenting with one of the containers.”

“Sounds like a good plan, Abstinence.”

In truth, Orlic had made some fine tasting beer in his time, but he had never succeeded in discovering an actual recipe. Just creating a product isn’t enough to establish a repeatable recipe, he had to recreate the same thing three our four times within some margin of error.

“Mister Abstinence, won't you be a dear and jump down to the bakery and grab us all something to eat for lunch.”

It was clear at this point that they’d have to stay till late in the afternoon before completing everything. When Hilde’s words ended, Abstinence received a familiar alert.

Hilde has asked you to go to the baker’s for some things

Rewards: Nothing

Rak was not unfamiliar with the ‘nothing’ reward. This is the expected reward from Hilde, the Chaos theory system however does reward all quests, no matter how trivial. Most quest given out by people are straight forward like this quest. If Rak asks someone to do something they’ll receive a similar quest, and even if he promises something in return, he may not have to pay it.

Many people have been scammed in this way, the rewards listed are only what is expected, it requires Chaos theory system to mediate to secure any contract. Rak has such a contract with Orlic, the town hall, who hired the young men and Hilde. However he only has an open ended contract with Hilde about going to the bakery.

“I’ll go right away.”

“No need to hurry.”

“I still have some things to do, so I’ll head out anyway.”

Rak was getting bored watching them do menial work, by noon they’d still need a few hours before dumping materials down into the breweries contains. It should only take a few hours to a day for the first batch to complete.

The value in the brewery is the large volume, many other production jobs require substantially less time to create many items. Take cooking, throwing something in a fire for two to three seconds might be enough for it to be considered ‘baked’ as odd as it may sound.

“I need to settle my contract with the taverns.”

With the brewery up and running Rak finally had the opportunity to create a Chaos theory system contract rather than relying on the taven owner’s word. Before this, the system wouldn’t allow Rak to give the assurance that he could deliver the alcohol.

It may seem like a strange line in the sand, but the difference between owning an axe and being ready to buy one is exactly that line. Going around saying you’ll sell people firewood is all fine, but the system won’t let you give that assurance until you have the tools to do so.

While this may seem like it’s to protect people from Rak, it is actually the system protecting Rak from himself. In simple terms, the woods are guaranteed to be there and be ready to be chopped but the axe might be sold out before he bought one, something along these lines.

“Morning.”

“Good day.”

While Rak knows a whole slew of people in Alp, there are still thousands that he only recognizes and thousands more he has never seen. There are also travelers, merchants and other players.

It has become a habit for Rak to be polite to people in order to gain quests, especially ones that lead to town hall reputation, which are not the easiest to gain when you are just stumbling around.

This is the case of being a pioneer, if someone else entered this town and consulted Rak on how to get reputation with town hall, that individual would be in luck. Cutting corners like this has not worked for Rak, in some cases, asking the people how to increase his reputation can decrease it instead or prevent him from getting quests related to it from affiliated people.

“The Horseshoe Inn.”

The name of the tavern is a remnant to when it actually sold rooms for people to stay in, it has since all been changed into a larger bar and during the day a place to eat.

“Ah, if it isn’t the aspiring brewer.”

Seeing the tavern owner Rak couldn’t help but laugh. Not at him but with him.

“Not doing much of brewing, I got Olric for that.”

“Right, right. I’ve tasted his stock before, there was never enough.”

“There will be this time.”

“So when can I expect a delivery?”

“It should be tomorrow noon-ish in the latest but to be safe I’d say two days from now.”

“That’s good then, Its a real hassle to have it all delivered from Hampter, and they water it down as well.”

“Rest assured, when you hear Abstinence, you know its quality.”

After a few words and rather lewd joke on behalf of tavern owner Frank, Rak went on to discuss the finalized deal.

“Good, it all works as it should.”

“Alright, I should be on my way then, I still have some things to tend to, I’ll see you tomorrow Frank.”

“Good, tomorrow then.”

Nodding and putting down a still dirty glass he had just ‘cleaned’ Frank turned his attention to his other affairs.

“With that done, I should make it to Laughter’s medicine before going to the bakers. I’ll deal with Withered fox last, seeing as that demoness Tril will probably drive me mad.”

Traveling around town takes up majority of Rak’s time, not owning a horse or any sort of mode of transportation can cause simple things to become long and tedious. For example, Rak has plans to make deals with local villages, that will take him week if not more in travel time, without a horse that is.

It is safe to assume that once Rak’s brewery income comes in he’ll be hiring a personal carriage to shuttle around for a day or two. The cost of which should be around a silver, an extravagant number for anyone living in a town. Perhaps only higher ups on town hall can spend in this way without feeling too much of a sting. One has to remember that in Villages people mostly practice sustenance farming and the like. In towns it is better but by how much can vary.

“If it wasn’t so far to the next town I-forget it, the travel cost alone might make it wasteful. I have one silver and twenty copper after the brewery quest finished, I might start heading to one of the villages before it gets dark. But then I’ll have to stay there for the night.”

Thinking things through, Rak shook his head, it wasn’t worth it to abandon his bed, not only could it bring in a few fatigue points it also lowers the consumption of it somewhat. Without a ‘good’ bed, which is generous when talking about Rak’s housing, fatigue consumption will run rampant.

“I might still be able to reach Horst village and make it back before nightfall. I’ll have to wait and see how things at the Withered fox goes.”

Having marched across town again, Rak steps into the Laughter’s medicine tavern. Similar to the Horseshoe in, it takes its name for what it was in the past. Two generations ago, it had been a failing ‘holistic’ medicine business before the owners son at the time discovered people came for their alcohol ‘medicine’.

Rak’s biggest business should be with the Laughter’s medicine because it is stationed closest to town hall, and the facilities here a bit better than at the Horseshoe inn or the Withered fox.

“Good day, is missus Medin in?.”

The current owner of the tavern is the widowed Medin, she and her children run the tavern, taking care of their four grandparents as well. They can only do this because of the tavern’s prosperity.

“Mom is out back, are you mister Abstinence?”

“You must he Savan. Good, you look beautiful like your mother, she must be proud to have a daughter like you.”

“Taken a fancy to my daughter, now? You know this sort of flattery can be dangerous.”

Arlina Medin, owner of the tavern just walked from behind the bar’s backdoors, in her hand a dry cloth she is using to clean her muddy hands. She had been out back tending a rather sizeable herb garden. Not forgetting their roots, the Medin family still creates medicine and even offers it as a supplement in drinks. This is not cheap and only town hall and other wealthier town members can afford it.

“Aye, I wouldn’t dare, to pair such a beautiful flower with a pile of dirt like me? Impossible.”

Arlina Medin’s eyes shone brighter, the more she looked at Rak the more she was satisfied with him. While her daughter is just sixteen and still some ways a child, she has long since begun making plans for her.

“You must be here about your ambitious brewery. Have a seat I’ll be with you in a moment, Savan get mister Abstinence something to drink.”

Only daring to nod, Savan looked at Rak expectantly. Feeling a bit helpless Rak only let out a sigh in his heart and sat down at a table. Ordering a Green wistful, a drink that increases stamina generation by two percent. A feeble number, barely worth noting.

“You can’t let your guard around the older people, everyone is a matchmaker.”

In truth it is because of Rak’s reputation in town, that he owns a house and soon to be brewery that he’s being targeted by cunning old men and women. It would be unfair however to call Medin old, still only forty, appearing to be in her early thirties.

“Here you go mister Abstinence.”

It is only in small towns and villages that people show such friendly gestures, everywhere Rak goes, he gets called mister this, mister that, and out of habit he has begun doing so as well.

“Thank you little Savan, what is your little brother up to these days?”

Originally Savan had been smiling sweetly and a bit flushed, but hearing the words ‘little Savan’ made her a bit annoyed causing her to pout slightly.

“He’s out back in the garden, he spends all his time there.”

“Last time I was here he said he was going to become a medical doctor.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he wants to become an herbalist and an alchemist at the same time, he just doesn't know what a medical doctor is.”

This little venture of the young Medin boy is a secret in the young boy’s mind, he is supposed to take over the tavern business and not become some doctor. It can be said it is just the right amount of rebelliousness for a boy his age.

“I’m sure he’ll become a great herbalist then. As for alchemist, that’ll be hard without a teacher.”

Rak laughed and chatted with Savan for a few moments before Arlina finally came out, she held a rough paper document with some numbers on them. Savan excused herself, while Rak took the documents to read.

“Huh. They have more business than I thought. With this I can increase production by twenty percent or so.”

The brewery can produce enough beer to supply the town three times over. Originally he was only going to increase production after he made a deal with all the local villages but now he may be able to reach forty percent production and only slightly over produce.

“This is good, missus Arlina. I’ll be able to meet all your needs and save you up to forty five percent.”

As they had already gone through some discussions, Arlina wasn’t too surprised but she was only expecting up to thirty five percent cheaper goods. All in all the taverns in town had to get their beer shipped in from the city or two towns over. Whatever it was, it was too long a distance so it incurred extra free. And there was little promise of quality.

“Forty five? Your not trying to buy Savan from me? I won’t let her go to a scoundrel like you.”

Rak’s eyes were still on the document when he felt a soft hand land on his thighs. He was a bit surprised but none of it showed on his face. Arlina’s voice was soothing and familiar to him, and for some reason he was afraid to meet Arlina’s eyes.

It has to be mentioned that Rak has plenty of experience in the ways between a man and woman, but it is usually him making advances and him in control.

“I would be one hell of a businessman if I could get any advantage out of you, missus Arlina.”

“Call me Lina.”

It seemed to Arlina that Rak’s words were an invitation and she began allowing her hand to move freely and slowly upwards.

“I’ll be able to get you the supplies around noon-ish at the latest.”

“That’s good, shouldn’t we go somewhere more private and finalize the contract?”

Rak was already being dragged from his chair and into the upstairs portion of the building. He was a bit loss of words and feeling a sense of helplessness he hadn’t felt in a long while.

“Wait a minute.”

Before Rak could gather his thoughts he was pushed onto a bed fit for two. A lioness of a woman staring at him like prey. It has been four years since she lost her husband and to tell the truth, the men in town were a bit lacking, only this Rak person managed to light a fire she thought had long since been put out.

“What a good little merchant. What do you want to sell today?”

Rak was becoming flustered, he was a bit like an inexperienced girl experiencing her first love. Every time his thoughts were forming this woman managed to tangle them further.

“Is this for sale?”

Arlina’s hands went from Rak’s chest to his waste where she dug up the tucked in shirt and began lifting it up in one smooth motion, leaving Rak bare chested. She lifted the shirt to her face and smelled it.

“Oh?”

She was already like a flame let loose but the smell of the shirt is combination of cologne mixed with his sweat, if anything it shouldn’t have been pleasant but she felt her cheeks burn and a slight shiver went through her.

“Missu-.”

“Lina.”

“Lina, I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

It has to be mentioned that Rak is not in anyway inexperienced when it comes to these types of things but he is first and foremost a businessman. The idea of tangling up business and pleasure is never good. And yet here he is, captured by a wild confident woman.

“This is the best idea I’ve had in years. Now, these old things, they must be for sale as well?”

Lina’s hands never stopped moving and were not unbuckling Rak’s pants, her actions unhurried and her gaze firmly on Rak ́s rather flustered appearance.

“What good clothing, I must have them.”

While Rak knew he could walk away anytime he wanted, it's not like the woman could actually stop him. But he also knew he’d be risking his deal with the tavern. As these thoughts roamed in his mind he felt Arlina’s soft hand around his member. He didn't want to admit it but he was standing at attention.

“What a good merchant.”

All thoughts of deals and whatnot vanished when he felt a warm wet sensation override his senses. He had never felt this sort of stimulation in real life, the feeling almost made him feel faint.

“Ah. A-”

Unable to contain himself Rak couldn’t help but let out moans, the action made him unbearably embarrassed but it only served to make Arlina more enthusiastic.

Down stairs a bright faced girl kept cleaning the same spot on the bar’s counter, it would seem that she heard something interesting.

Having no way to control himself Rak felt an overwhelming pleasure. His back arched before he suddenly relaxed and fell backwards onto the bead from his seated position.

“Done already? It seems I haven’t lost my touch.”

It could be said that Arlina hadn’t felt this type of power and satisfaction in a long while. She quickly let her clothes drop, one after the other. She gave Rak no chance to move. An even deeper sensation of warmth overwhelmed Rak once more.

“Ah. What a good little merchant. Let this lady buy a piece.”

If it wasn’t for the great pleasure Rak was experiencing he’d feel Arlina’s merchant roleplaying words a bit off but he couldn’t even wrap his head around how different everything felt in Chaos theory. He was writhing on his back while this beautiful brunette with deep brown eyes was riding him like he was a toy. He felt like he was being played with.

Watching Arlina’s breasts move with her grinding he had the strongest urge to reach out and grab them.

“Oh? You know how to take advantage? As expected of a merchant like you.”

Unlike before, Arlina’s voice was now a bit ragged and far more sensual. She closed her eyes and concentrated on Rak’s fingers rather firm fondling of her nipples. The sensation shot down her body and her motions became more erratic and hurried. Before she knew it she was letting out sounds sounds of pleasure.

It can be said to be fortunate for the young Medin boy that he was outside tending the garden. But Savan felt her soul stir as she continued mindlessly move a piece of cloth in circular motions on the bar’s desk, she may even have forgotten her own existence at this point.

“I’m, I’-.”

When Arlina fell forward, Rak felt an extremely soft sensation mush into his face and his entire body filled with pleasure he had never felt before. Arlina’s body twitched and shook for the better part of a minute before finally come to a stop.

Experience: 500

Coin: 0

The alert came as quick as it left, buried in Rak’s system notification log. And strangely his ‘combat’ log was also cluttered with various information. Mainly an abrupt drop in fatigue, stamina and clarity. Only at the end did the clarity return to its former value and even increase numerically by a few points.